Category Archives: New

Are there nicer words than ‘new’ and ‘yarns’ side by side? We have had quite a few lovelies come in lately and thought we’d share the love.

You only have to look at the beautiful jewel tones of Road to China Lace to know why we’ve stocked this luxurious yarn, which captures all the qualities of its fibres: alpaca, silk, camel and cashmere. Whisper-light and warm, Road to China Lace drapes like a dream, and has the subtlest of sheens from the silk. This is one yarn that is as much a pleasure to knit with as it is to wear.

Laceweight yarn so gorgeous immediately suggests lace. This Echo Flower Shawl by Jenny Johnson Johnen is inspired by Eastonian lace and has a blossom stitch body and an utterly exquisite border. (It’s also free.)

Fans of Jo Sharp’s Alpaca Silk Georgette may have noticed it’s being phased out and replaced by Mulberry Silk Georgette. If you like the Alpaca Silk Georgette, this new yarn knits to a very similar tension. With wool in place of the alpaca, you will have a lighter and softer fabric.

This yarn produces the most beautiful fabric (the drape, the drape) and it’s a pleasure in the hand. As with all Jo Sharp yarns there is very good pattern support. This yarn can be used for anything your heart desires, it’s that versatile. It blocks beautifully, so if you’ve always wanted to make a cardigan like Vitamin D, here’s your chance.

Prima Fine Kid Merino and Silk by Rosabella yarns is silk twisted with fine kid and merino. The composition yields a lofty yarn that is soft and smooth to the hand, with the most delightful halo. This yarn is not too far away from Rowan’s Kidsilk Haze, with the merino giving it just a bit more body, so it has wide application, from cardigans to hats, scarves and gloves.

Isabell Kraemer’s Jih, a raglan sweater that is worked seamlessly from the top down, will get a beautiful heathered dimension in this yarn. One of those sweaters that’s made for when you’re in the mood for miles of stocking stitch, and will get copious amounts of wear.

Here’s another first for us – a yarn trunk show! If you hang out on Instagram you may have encountered Circus Tonic Handmade’s beautiful stream, which features Hannah Ginn’s soft, delicately coloured, hand-dyed, handpainted and speckled yarns.

Hannah lives in Sydney, but on 1 September, from 10am to 1pm, she will be at the store for some seriously engrossing squish and tell. Do drop by and say hello, and to pick up some goodies for yourself. In the meantime, here’s Hannah!

Tell us a little about yourself, Hannah, and the Circus Tonic Handmade story.

I live in Sydney with my husband, three kids and Hector the hound. I actually grew up in many parts of Australia and in Dubai before it was the mega-city it is today. My mum is English, so we would go to the UK for holidays. I didn’t return to Australia until uni, and haven’t left since!

I trained as a molecular biologist and worked for years in a genomics centre at UNSW. With daycare fees spiralling ever upwards it became counterproductive for me to work. I decided to take a break in mid-2015, take all the kids out of care and start over. Knitting and craft was a salve or tonic for our everyday crazy, loud, circus-like household life … so Circus Tonic Handmade it was. And now, the yarn has taken over!

I was home only a few weeks when I saw I needed another major goal to keep my spirits up after such a huge life shift. I had learnt to knit in 2013 when I was expecting my first winter baby, and often spent many hours wondering how I could turn my love of all things fibre and textiles into a business. I had been a huge quilter and knitting absolutely transfixed me once I began. Once I found hand-dyed yarn I was smitten!

What were your earliest influences and yarn dreams?

I always link back to certain times and places when I’m daydreaming about yarn. I recently found out my grandmother made kilts and then remembered looking through tartan and knitted yoke samples as a kid.

I started collecting fabrics on my travels when I was fourteen. I made scrunchies for pocket money and sold them to the cool kids at school in my lunch break!

My biggest can-do role model in terms of making is my mum. She used hand-making to survive motherhood, and made lead-light windows, sewed our clothes, grew our food, made our quilts and curtains, stencilled our rooms (eeeepppp! Lol) and has recently started a little residential upholstery school in the Southern Highlands of NSW.

Nothing is beyond her – and she actually trained as an opera singer! I remember standing under her skirt as she sang at a wedding, so it’s in the genes.

Tell us how you choose your yarn bases, and where you source them from.

I’m obsessed and I love all kinds, so my yarns are a mix of Australian and internationally sourced bases. I’m trying new ones all the time, depending on availability and even requests.

We love the bird names for your colourways, they are so inspired! How did they come about?

I’m always thinking about yarn, and while I pay attention to what’s on trend I really try to keep on my own path.

I based my current collection on Australian native birds as I thought that would give me a theme with plenty of scope. Some colourways are immediately recognisable while others take more artistic licence.

You have a lovely knitterly understanding of yarn and colour. How much does knitting experience inform your dyeing?

I love semi-solid tonals for garments especially as they were the types of yarns I first found as a knitter that I couldn’t resist.

I’m newer to speckled yarns but I love how they bring single-stitch pops to accessories. There are so many dyeing techniques to introduce speckles so it’s an ongoing education. From my former life as a scientist I’m used to taking very strict notes, experimenting and delayed gratification, so my dyeing will keep evolving.

How do you come up with the colours for an update/release? Do you work thematically, with a plan, or do you follow your nose and let serendipity take the lead?

I have sets of colourways that I feel go really well together so I tend to decide which ones will be the core of an update and then build around them. I try to come up with a couple of new colourways each update as customers love new yarn.

How important is social media to your business?

Instagram is centrally important to any indie dyer as it’s a great way to communicate what’s going on at HQ. I know the sorts of posts I enjoy looking at so I try to give my followers some lovely eye candy each day.

I don’t get a lot of time to knit these days and so showing my yarn knit up by talented and adventurous customers is really exciting and informative – I appreciate the sharing of project pics very much.

What does a day in your life look like? Do you manage to keep the kids and the dyeing business in neat compartments or does it all meld together in an organic fashion?

As business is picking up, Greg my husband is taking more and more of the weekend household and kid duties as I smash out several sixteen-hour days! As he does 55-hour weeks himself that is a huge commitment.

Each day I dye yarn, plot and plan, sew bags, visit my saintly post office, and do all the office jobs like photos, labels and packaging etc. We have two kids still at home during the day so we paint, ride scooters inside and generally hum along. They do watch a few too many movies, but I figure as long as I’m in the vicinity it’s OK!

What and which other designers, artists or creative people inspire you?

I have always been a huge fan of Gustav Klimt, and I find it amusing that I see quilting and speckles and swirls all through his paintings and portraits.

Knitwear designers I constantly find myself drawn to are Melanie Berg, Ambah O’Brian, Kristen Finlay, Wei Siew Leong and The Lace Eater, and Françoise Danoy. There are so many others – Ravelry is my oyster!

What can we look forward to in your trunk show at Sunspun?

My trunk show at Sunspun will be a lot of fun. Retailing online misses so much of the personal interaction with knitters, and I’ve never met a knitter I didn’t like!

I will bring a lot of speckled, handpainted and semi-solid tonal sock yarns. My travelling limits what I can bring, but I hope to offer something everyone will like and want to take home. My mum and I are sewing a big stack of very covetable project bags too so there should be lots of delicious items to see.

July sees us right in the heart of an Aussie winter. Now we don’t have snow here in Melbourne (sadly some of us may think!!) but let’s just pretend, for the length of this newsletter, that we do! And if you are in the Dandenongs or some regional areas of Victoria then you most certainly just had a wee amount of snow.

So settle in, read on and let us tell you more about what’s on in July at Sunspun.

Our regular Friday Sit & Yarn just keeps going from strength to strength. You can see the July dates in the table below. Don’t forget this free group is open to all, just remember we have had to cap the number each Friday to 10 to be able to accommodate everyone around the table. Some lovely friendships have already been made and new people are joining in!

Term 3 classes have started. We have some fabulous classes for you during July, including a new Knitting Clinic so you can get some help to finish off those projects that have been sitting in the ‘too hard’ basket just waiting for some loving attention. Don’t forget the ‘oldies but goodies’ on the calendar as well! To help you entertain your small people in the school holidays we have the second of our new kids knitting classes – Knitting Skills Extended – for those who are familiar with the basics. Adele is our teacher (you can read her bio here) and we would like to assure you that she has a current Working With Children Check. Just give us a call at the shop (9830 1609, Mon – Sat 10am-5pm) and we can answer any queries you may have as to class content and each one’s suitability for you or your children. Don’t forget our adult classes are now conducted on Tuesday nights. Children’s classes are on Thursday during the morning. Our private classes are proving to be very popular and allowing many customers to have personalised help with their knitting and crochet dilemmas. All the info is on our classes page.

As you know from a previous blog post, we now have a Product of the Month each and every month! The highlighted product for July is the very lovely Shilasdair yarn – Luxury 4ply. This beautiful Scottish yarn is from the Isle of Skye and has been a customer favourite for a ‘wee’ while. It is a 4ply (Fingering), 40% merino lambswool/40% angora/10% baby camel/10% cashmere yarn. Truly exotic!! It is hand dyed with beautiful natural dyes and comes with very generous meterage on the skein. It’s perfect for jumpers, cardigans and accessories – we have some samples knit up for you to see it ‘in action’. Our upcoming blog post will tell you more. A yarn that just cannot be ignored!!

A lot of us may only get as close to snow as a pretty snow globe this winter!

This year we want to showcase the talents of some very skilled people in our community. Kirsten Johnstone joins us again in July for the launch of her new mini collection, Kei, for Woolfolk. The garments and accessories will be in the shop on Friday/Saturday 8th/9th July for you to see and Kirsten will be in the shop on Saturday 9th July from 11.30 – 3.30pm to chat and help. Come along and say hi. All the details are on the blog.

We are very fortunate to have the lovely Clare Devine as a staff member. Did you know that Clare is a very talented designer and has a very devoted worldwide fan base? Towards the end of July and running into August we are soooo looking forward to being able to share many of these designs with you in a Trunk Show. We will be following our usual trunk show format and having a Sunspun Members’ Meet, Greet and Nibbles Night (with fashion parade) on Friday 29th July (by invitation only) with Clare’s knitted samples in the shop throughout the following week. More info on this later in a separate newsletter and blog post. If you are a sock and hat lover be prepared to swoon!!!

In our Ravelry group, Sunspun Fibre Folk, our new monthly discussion threads for you to participate in continue. The first is centred around garments – each month we feature a new garment and ask you to share past or current projects. The second is more general and talks about yarns, colours, shapes, etc. Lots for everyone! For July, our garment focus is sweaters and in the ‘other’ thread we will be chatting about the kinds of sweaters you like to make – pullovers, cardigans, vests, oversized, fitted, lightweight or thick and snuggly – so jump on in and tell us what you like! And don’t forget to share your show and tell by using the ‘Share with Group’ box on the project page for each of your projects. You will notice lots of folk have already been sharing with us. To show everyone how clever you are we will be posting a selection of these projects to our Facebook Page once a week (if you don’t want us to share your happy snaps just let us know in this ravelry thread).

So, that’s July. A month to learn, shop, share and dream about snow while Mother Nature sends us a lovely cold winter just right for our knitted woollies.

Well knitting weather is certainly here and you have been visiting the shop to restock – or add to – your stash (you know which category you fit into!!). It is lovely say “hello again” or “welcome back” and help you plan your next project. New patterns and books are arriving in the shop as we gear up to make sure we have all the necessary supplies to see you through the cooler and colder months to come. So grab your yarn and needles/hooks and a ‘beverage of choice’ and find out what we have for you in April.

Our regular Friday Sit & Yarn has become sooooo popular and some wonderful friendships have been made. You can see the April dates in the table below. Don’t forget this free group is open to all – however, we have decided to cap the number of attendees each week to ten. Our table just can’t accommodate any more people comfortably and still leave room for staff and customers to move around the shop. Since we don’t want to lock you into a regular commitment we aren’t taking names for each Friday – just rock up and grab a chair till all ten are full. We have some flyers from our local Booroondara Council detailing knitting groups that are held in the Libraries in our area. Feel free to ask us for one – you may find a group that suits your availability to a tee! Additionally, check out your own local council – most areas have knitting groups already established.

Term 2 classes swing into action in April. We have some fabulous new classes for you as well as some oldies but goodies! We are eager to help you expand your knitting and crochet skills and have a good selection of techniques for you to try. Just give us a call at the shop (9830 1609, Mon – Sat 10am-5pm) and we can answer any queries you may have as to class content and your suitability for each one. In the past, our classes have been run on Wednesday nights. Term 2 sees them moved to Tuesday nights. We hope this doesn’t cause too much inconvenience and that it allows additional customers access to educational opportunities.

The shop will be CLOSED on Monday 25th April for Anzac Day. We will OPEN again on Tuesday 26th April at 10am.

As you know from a previous blog post, we now have a Product of the Month each and every month! The highlighted product for April is the very lovely Milla Mia 5ply. This beautiful yarn is a 5ply (Sport), 100% merino wool yarn. It is so very soft – perfect for cowls, scarves, shawls, baby garments and all those ‘wear next to your skin’ projects. An upcoming blog post will tell you more and we have some items made up in the shop for you to see this lovely yarn ‘in action’. Sadly, Milla Mia will no longer be available to us wholesale (you will be only able to get it through an international online shop) so what we have left is all we can get! If you love this yarn, and we know many of you do, now is your opportunity to grab some at a reduced price. A yarn that just cannot be ignored!!

Annnnnd ……. WE HAVE MORE NEW YARNS!!!! We will just give you the short version here because we will feature some of them in upcoming blog posts.

White Gum Wool – a gorgeously soft Australian yarn – we have the entire range of 4ply colours. We knitted one ball into a sample for you to feel and it just went on forever!!

Orkney Angora – it has to be felt to be believed – an 8ply yarn, 80% angora/20% wool (angora from ethically and humanely treated rabbits) in many colours from the Orkney Islands. Mmmmm…..

You will notice some new faces behind the counter over the coming weeks. Karyn (not to be confused with Karen – lol, we still haven’t been able to figure out an appropriate way to stop them both answering ‘yes’ at the same time!!!) has been one of our extraordinary sample knitters for quite a while – you will notice her work all around the shop. She has great technical ability and isn’t afraid to tweak a pattern! Adele is particularly adept at colour work and is also joining the teaching crew – she will be introducing Kids Holiday Knitting Classes for us during this term. You can find out more about them on the Classes page on the website. Bex has been a customer for quite some time and always has a project or two on her needles.

As always, our YouTube channel, Sunspun, has new videos to ‘teach’ you – this month is ‘garter stitch’ month. Learn how to graft (Kitchener Stitch) in garter stitch and how to use a double ended crochet hook (available in the shop) to easily and quickly pick up those dropped garter stitches.

In our Ravelry group, Sunspun Fibre Folk, we are starting a couple of new monthly discussion threads for you to participate in. The first is centred around garments – each month we will feature a new garment and ask you to share past or current projects. The second will be more general and talk about yarns, colours, shapes, etc. Lots for everyone! And don’t forget to share your show and tell by using the ‘Share with Group’ box on the project page for each of your projects. You will notice lots of folk have already been sharing with us. Click on the pics and see some really lovely items.

Wow! Did your ‘beverage of choice’ last through all that? No – then grab another and start knitting/crocheting those ‘yarny’ projects that warm us both inside and out.

What better way to welcome autumn than with Shibui Baby Alpaca, which is also our Product of the Month. Remember, we offer a 10% discount (20% for Sunspun members) on the chosen product of the month, and this yarn is seriously worth the investment.

The overall loveliness of Shibui yarns is well known, and Baby Alpaca is no less irresistible than the rest of their range. It is soft, soft, soft and silky in the hand, with a beautiful halo and the drape on finished items is heavenly to behold. The generous yardage also means that the yarn goes on and on and on.

The yarn is quite loosely plied (there are three strands), so you do have to watch that you don’t snag one of the strands when knitting. And don’t worry about any slight unevenness in your knitting: once soaked and dried, the stitches plump up beautifully and the swatch evens out with a gentle block. It is soft enough for next-to-the-skin wear, light and warm.

This is one of those 8 plies that’s almost like a sportweight/5 ply yarn, so you are likely able to use Baby Alpaca in patterns that call for sportweight yarn. Just swatch and see how the fabric knits up.

For a quick one-skein taster, how about Hinagiku Hat – this slouchy beanie has an allover daisy stitch pattern, is worked in the round and completely seamless. It’d make the perfect trans-seasonal hat.

One skein should be just enough to make the justly beloved Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief, a triangular shawl that can be made bigger or smaller depending on how much yarn you have – just add more garter eyelet and stocking stitch panels as needed.

Shibui yarns are made for plying with another yarn for different effects; this Piega cowl by Kristin Ford used a strand each of Shibui Silk Cloud and Baby Alpaca for a braided wonder that is fun to knit and will make a wonderful gift.

Heidi Kirrmaier’s Climb Every Mountain is a cape-like pullover worked from the top down, seamlessly and in the round, with short rows to shape the neckline. The drape from alpaca will make this truly luxurious.

Midnight Mix by Judy Brien is a simple and cosy classic sweater, its cable panel lending the piece some texture. There is minimal shaping so this piece, especially in alpaca with its drape, will skim. Because it’s knit top down, you can try it on as you go and adjust as necessary.

Joji Locatelli’s True is like a knitted hug: a simple, generous cardigan that will be one of those pieces you return to again and again. It’s also convertible.

As the Baby Alpaca is so light and warm, it’s ideal for kids’ clothes, perhaps My Honey, a sweet cardigan with a lacy yoke and puffed sleeves that will wear well. (Sample is knit in an alpaca yarn, though not the Shibui.)

Fans of stranded colourwork may want to try the luxurious lined Fiddlehead Mittens by Adrian Bizilia. Their warmth and your colour choice will chase away all winter blues. There are some stunning finished examples in Ravelry.

It’s Autumn!! You know what that means – cooler weather is coming. The days are getting shorter, we are spending more time inside with our knitting and crochet warming our laps and keeping our hands extra busy and our spirits are soothed by the yarn running through our fingers.

March is another busy month for us – lol, they all seem busy! We have our regular Friday Sit & Yarn – it is becoming sooooo popular and some wonderful friendships are being made. It is quite on the cards that we may even have our first baby born this month (the due date is early April but you know babies – their schedule is all their own!). Don’t forget this group is open to all. You can see the dates in the table below.

Wednesday nights sees more classes happening – including a class taught by our special guest teacher, Australian Designer extraordinaire, Kirsten Johnstone. Kirsten proudly flies the banner for Aussie designers internationally and has designed for some of the most popular yarn companies and magazines around today. We are absolutely thrilled to be able to have her garments in the shop for a Trunk Show. As well as teaching for us, Kirsten will participate in an (invitation only) Meet, Greet & Nibbles night for Sunspun Members and will also be in the shop to meet you all, answer questions and watch you try on her lovely garments! All the details can be found on our blog.

This year Easter has come early. We will have a display in the shop of some ‘Easter’ inspiration for you. The shop will be CLOSED from Good Friday through to Easter Monday and will OPEN again on Tuesday 29th March. We will remind you closer to the date.

As you know from a previous blog post, we now have a Product of the Month each and every month! The highlighted product for March is the exquisitely soft Baby Alpaca by Shibui Yarns. This beautiful yarn is an 8ply (DK), 100% baby alpaca yarn. It is so very soft – perfect for cowls, scarves and shawls. An upcoming blog post will tell you more and we have some items made up in the shop for you to see, touch and try on. A yarn that just cannot be ignored!!

Annnnnd ……. WE HAVE NEW YARNS!!!!

We will just give you the short version here because we will feature some of them in upcoming blog posts.

Have you heard of a Trunk Show before?No? Then read on! Yes? Then read on!

A Trunk Show is a selection of knitted samples from yarn companies or designers that a shop can borrow for a short period of time to allow its customers to see what patterns or yarns will look like when they are knitted up. It is a special event that allows folk to come and see items that are not normally on display. As wonderful an asset to our knitting world as the internet has become, opening up the works of all designers to all knitters around the globe, nothing appeals like touching and feeling the garments and accessories that have so cleverly been created. And often a Trunk Show will include a visit by the designer to meet and chat to customers in the shop.

And so, without out any further ado, let me introduce you to Kirsten Johnstone and give you the details of the forthcoming trunk show.

Kirsten is a local Melbourne gal who has made a wonderful splash on the international knitting scene. She has designed for such influential companies as Brooklyn Tweed, Quince & Co, Woolfolk, Blue Sky Alpacas, amirisu and Shibui Knits. In her ‘other’ life (you know, when she is not knitting!) Kirsten is an architect and her love of clean lines and structure can be seen in her knitting designs. As she describes her garments “designs with a distinctive urban edge yet elegantly wearable”.

We are thrilled to be able to share Kirsten’s designs with you over the span of a week or so in March. We will have a selection of 16 garments and accessories in the shop for you to touch, feel and try on! Additionally, Kirsten’s patterns will be available for purchase with a 5% discount (15% for Sunspun Members) for the duration of the trunk show. Annnnd ……. Kirsten will be in the shop on Saturday morning to say hi, answer questions and sign patterns!

Kirsten has graciously agreed to teach a class for us as well! On Wednesday 9th March (6.15 – 9.15pm) we have scheduled her Sev[en]circles Neckpiece class. If you would like to book in now is the time as places are already filling. Just call us (9830 1609) and we can book you in and secure your spot.

A special treat for Sunspun Members is a Meet, Greet and Nibbles night with Kirsten on Friday night. Oh …… and did I mention the Fashion Parade!!! For those of us who are ‘models’ – a very scary proposition!! Please make sure you RSVP by the required date (see your Invitation email) so we make sure to order sufficient nibbles.

So, we hope that you will come along and touch and feel and try on and chat and enjoy the wonderful talent of Kirsten Johnstone – Aussie designer extraordinaire!

Happy ‘yarning’,
Amy, Karen and Nicole.

Event details summarised below !

Trunk Show Details
Sat 5th March – Sat 12th March
Meet Kirsten Sat 5th March 11am-2pm
Discounted patterns during show